Kirill Martynov. Photo: Gints Ivuskans / AFP / Scanpix / LETA
Russia’s financial watchdog added Novaya Gazeta Europe’s editor-in-chief Kirill Martynov to its list of “terrorists and extremists” on Monday.
Martynov’s addition to the list is likely related to a criminal case opened by Russia’s Federal Security Service in October against him and 22 other members of the Russian Antiwar Committee for “involvement in a terrorist community” and “attempting to seize power by force”.
Martynov, who has lived in Latvia since leaving Russia in early 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was sentenced in absentia to six years in prison in April for organising the activities of two so-called “undesirable” organisations — Novaya Gazeta Europe and the Free University, an online university he co-founded in 2020 that allows Russians access to censorship-free learning.
Two other members of the Russian Antiwar Committee — legal scholar and Free University professor Yelena Lukyanova and former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov — were added to the list of “terrorists and extremists” alongside Martynov on Monday, while political scientist Yekaterina Schulmann and exiled philanthropist Boris Zimin were added to the list last week.
The list currently includes 823 organisations and 19,131 individuals, including a number of prominent opposition figures, among them the late opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who has not been removed from the register despite his death in February 2024.
Anyone accused of terrorism or extremism in Russia, even if they are ultimately acquitted, has their name added to the list, disqualifying them from a wide range of financial activities, including making transactions, buying or selling property, and receiving an inheritance. Anybody whose name is added to the list also has their assets and bank accounts frozen and their bank cards blocked.
Once on the list, it is extremely difficult for an individual to be removed from it. Either the criminal case against the defendant has to be dropped, their sentence overruled, or their criminal record expunged.
